Member

I wish to speak to new clause 1 on auto-enrolment for school meals. This is not just about food, although healthy food is incredibly important, especially in areas such as Camphill in Nuneaton where 40% of children live in poverty. Access to free school meals is a gateway to other support such as uniform grants and holiday hunger programmes, but crucially, it gives additional funding to schools to provide pupil premium activities for children from low-income families. A disadvantaged child in Nuneaton is twice as likely not to achieve national averages in English and maths by the age of 11. Pupil premium funding is designed to be used not only to provide specific interventions, but to give children access to cultural capital that they cannot afford at home.